AUGIS has been working with the Coloproctologists (ACPGBI) and surgical trainees (ASiT) to highlight the importance of gastro-intestinal surgeons being competent endoscopists. The UK is unusual in this regard as in many countries surgeons do not scope. We believe that luminal gastro-intestinal surgeons should be endoscopists, properly trained and accredited, even though this is not mandated in the current general surgical curriculum. A position statement to this effect will be published soon. So, how are we to ensure that trainees have appropriate access to endoscopy training lists? It’s not simple but we have the support of the Joint Advisory Group on Endoscopy (JAG) and are working with the British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) to find solutions. If you are a BSG member, voting for surgeons who put themselves forward for vacancies on the endoscopy committee will help us influence the direction of travel. Proposals to change the training curriculum for general surgery were recently rejected by the GMC. The precise details have not yet been made public but we do know that the inherent tension between “Generalist” and “Specialist” is a core issue. We have managed to fudge this for many years in the UK and continue to train many more super-specialists than are required to staff our hospitals. Unlike countries such as Australia, a UK CCT in General Surgery can mean many different things. Perhaps it is time for us to think again and re-create the General GI Surgeon who is competent to perform common procedures such as cholecystectomy and colectomy in their elective and emergency practice. Should this be the CCT in General Surgery? Super-specialty training would logically follow during subsequent fellowship years and be accredited accordingly. Heresy, I hear you say! Maybe, but we need to look at this with fresh eyes if we are going to make General Surgery an attractive career again. It’s tricky stuff with many vested interests. AUGIS has worked with three important charities recently to fund new research posts through the Royal College of Surgeons of England SSL project. These senior leadership roles are intended to initiate multicentre surgical research trials. Generous funding from Heartburn Cancer UK, the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund and Pancreatic Cancer UK has allowed the appointment of two research leads, one for oesophageal and the other for pancreatic cancer. We are extremely grateful to these charities for their support. I know that AUGIS members will be keen to get involved in the research that will flow from this. This willbethelastnewsletterIwriteinasAUGISPresident. It has been a considerable honour to serve the Association, a lot of hard work and generally very rewarding. Inevitably, we have made progress in some areas but not in others. I am grateful for all the advice I have received, solicited or otherwise. I am also grateful to AUGIS Council and Executive for their hard work on your behalf to make things happen and for their support to me personally. Professor Giles Toogood is ready to take the reins and I know he will do a great job as your new President. The Edinburgh meeting looks to be a cracker so please come! The programme really does have something for everyone and the longer format means you get more for your money. If you’re still undecided go on the micro-site (www.augis. org/2018conference) and take a look. The dinner may seem expensive but that’s what it costs I’m afraid and it will be a great evening. Throw caution to the wind and book the lot so you can catch up with friends, update your knowledge and get CPD points for your appraisal. Regards Best wishes Mr Richard Hardwick President, AUGIS I am delighted to report that the Clinical Effectiveness Unit at the Royal College of Surgeons has been awarded the contract to continue the excellent work it has been doing since 2008 in running NOGCA. As I mentioned in a previous newsletter NHS England have recommissioned the audit in a joint audit with the bowel cancer audit – a three year National Gastrointestinal Cancer Audit Programme. We anticipate little change in the format of the audit, but will be hoping for ever more robust data from the new outcome measures we have introduced. We are nearing the end of the first five-year cycle of the second NOGCA audit and we will now be able to publish 5 year outcome data. We have collected a huge amount of data, and this will enable us to carry out some very interesting analyses of outcomes comparing, for example, minimally invasive versus open approaches for surgery, and different neoadjuvant chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy regimes. Over the next 6 to 9 months we will be updating the Provision of Services Document with specific reference to outcomes and minimum standards, and also will be looking at ways of collecting robust outcomes data on the benign work we do. This will be a challenge but we have to ensure that we monitor outcomes and apply similar quality standards to our benign work as we now do so transparently to our cancer work. Mr Nicholas Maynard Clinical Services and Audit Lead President’s Message Report from the Clinical Services and Audit Lead AUGIS Summer 2018 Newsletter AUGIS Summer 2018 Newsletter AUGIS Council Members - June 2018 President: Mr Richard Hardwick President Elect: Professor Giles Toogood Honorary Secretary: Mr Adrian O’Sullivan Honorary Treasurer: Mr Stephen Fenwick Clinical Services and Audit Lead: Mr Nicholas Maynard Education, Training & Research Lead: Mr Mark Taylor BOMSS Secretary: Mr Vinod Menon BOMSS President: Mr Shaw Somers HPB Group Representative: Professor Ashley Dennison OG Group Lead: Professor Ashraf Rasheed Trainee Member Representative: Mr Matthew Mason Regional Representatives: Mr Bhaskar Kumar (East Anglia), Mr Andrew Kennedy (Northern Ireland), Mr Andrew Smith (North & York- shire), Mr Dinesh Sharma (North Thames ), Mr Simon Galloway (North West & Mersey), Mr Stuart Mercer (Oxford & Wessex), Mr Adrian O’Sullivan (Republic of Ireland), Mr James Gossage (South Thames), Mr Richard Krysztopik (South West), Mr Graeme Couper (Scotland), Mr Iain Cameron (Trent), Mr Bilal Al-Sarireh (Wales), Mr Jan Dmitrewski (West Midlands). Communications Officer: Mr Nick Everitt ACP Representative: Mr Shahab Siddiqi ALS Representative: Mr Donald Menzies Mr Nicholas Maynard 2 3